Spike Chunsoft announcing a new RPG next week

JRPG fans, get ready! Spike Chunsoft is jumping back into the genre, promising that it will announce a new RPG in next week’s issue of Famitsu. The announcement will span an astonishing 14 pages, so obviously someone believes this will be a big deal.

What could it possibly be? These days, Spike Chunsoft is best known for developing graphic novels like the popular Danganronpa and Zero Escape franchises and localizing Western games for Japan like The Witcher 3 and Hotline Miami. In terms of developing its own RPGs, all it really has to offer are the Conception and Mystery Dungeon games.

Neither of these are big enough to score 14 pages in Famitsu.

Here’s a bit of a long shot guess. It’s possible that Square Enix has partnered up with Spike Chunsoft to make another Dragon Quest Mystery Dungeon game. That could be the case given by how many Dragon Quest announcements we’ve seen recently and how many creator Yuji Horii has hinted at being in development. 14 pages seems about right for such a collaboration.

As a brief history lesson, the Chunsoft branch of Spike Chunsoft developed the first five Dragon Quest games and all of the Mystery Dungeon spin-offs. Could we possibly be seeing the return of tubby ol’ Torneko? Man, I hope so. If not, this has to be an original franchise or an unexpected partnership.